CANADIENS
Montreal

PANTHERS
Florida

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Byron – Drouin – Lehkonen
Shaw – Danault – Pacioretty
Hudon – Plekanec – Gallagher
Galchenyuk – McCarron – Scherbak
[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Mete – Weber
Alzner – Benn
Davidson – Petry
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders

Price
Montoya

Scratches

Jacob De La Rose, Torrey Mitchell, Joe Morrow

Injuries

David Schlemko – hand (mid-November), Ales Hemsky

Game Report

The Montreal Canadiens picked up their first home win and their first regulation win in their ninth game of the season. The significance of the ‘W’ cannot be overstated. For Habs fans, there was an enormous sigh of relief.

Post-game, we heard that the Canadiens are back on track, that they played a 60-minute game and that the goaltending had done a complete 180 in this game.

Such is the state of Montreal spin.

While the hoopla is understandable after a crucial win, it’s naive to assume that the mistakes of the first eight games have been erased. After all, it was Carey Price who had to bail out his team throughout the game.

Speaking of Price, his performance was outstanding but was not a significant departure from previous games. His so-called demise was nothing more than fantastical hyperbole. 

And while the compete level was better from the team, the Canadiens did not come close to putting in a three period effort.

In fact this one could have been over quite early. Just ten seconds in, Price had to make a game-changing save on the ever-dangerous Aleksander Barkov. It was Price who was pressed into service again a couple of minutes later when Barkov got another grade-A scoring chance.

Without Price’s heroics, the Canadiens would have been down 2-0 only four minutes into the game. No doubt that the Bell Centre fans would have turned hostile.

Barkov did get in on the scoring just 20 seconds into the second period assisting on a Florida goal by Keith Yandle. Then the Panthers self-destructed letting undisciplined play snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Starting at the seven minute mark of the second, Florida took four straight penalties.

With the first two Montreal power-plays going nowhere, the Bell Centre crowd became restless. A few boo-birds announced their displeasure. 

When Radim Vrbata was sent off for holding, I could be heard saying “It’s going to get ugly in here if the Habs don’t score.” Fortunately, Alex Galchenyuk was listening.

The unlikely hero scored the most important goal for the Montreal Canadiens in 2017-18 thus far.  Full credit to Galchenyuk who drove to the net cashing in a rebound following a Brendan Gallagher shot to the pads of James Reimer.

How ironic would it be if Galchenyuk scored the goal that changed the direction of the Canadiens season given the criticism/treatment he has received.

The Canadiens would score another power-play goal before the period was out as the Panthers continued to shoot themselves in the foot. Shea Weber scored the eventual game-winner with a blast.

Brendan Gallagher would add another 17 seconds after Weber’s goal and a wave of Bell Centre emotion carried the Canadiens into the second intermission with a 3-1 lead.

Weber picked up his second goal of the might midway through the third period. Two minutes later the captain, Max Pacioretty put an exclamation point on the night.

To their credit, the Canadiens took advantage of indiscipline by the Panthers, a backup goaltender and stellar goaltending by Carey Price. But, it will take more than a 90-second offensive outburst to defeat the Kings on Thursday night.

The win was essential for the Canadiens but the two points did not budge them from their 30th place position. Such is the depth of the hole the Habs dug for themselves during the first eight games. And the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Blackhawks to improve their record to 7-1-0.

~~~

▲     Carey Price, Shea Weber, Artturi Lehkonen, Brendan Gallagher, Nikita Scherbak

▼     Phillip Danault

1. Shea Weber  MTL
2. Carey Price  MTL
3. Jonathan Drouin  MTL

• “I liked the way we finished the game, especially in the third. We were still a bit on our heels at the beginning, but slowly, after we scored the first goal, that took off a lot of pressure. The second one was definitely a big goal for us, too.”
• “Once we scored, our team started showing more of what we’ve been looking for and in the third, I thought we did a good job of working a full 60 minutes.”

Carey Price

• “That’s my mentality – win or lose, just move on. It’s great to win, but we’re not going to sit on it for too long. We have to prepare for the next one.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com